Meanwhile, China’s economic growth last quarter beat expectations.
ASX futures were hinting up as of 6:00am on Wednesday, having climbed 5 points or 0.1%.
US stocks wavered Tuesday, pressured by shares of Goldman Sachs Group and Johnson & Johnson.
The S&P 500 closed up 0.1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite were roughly flat. Earnings continued to test banks following recent industry strains and tightening from the Federal Reserve.
Goldman Sachs stock slipped 1.7% after a slowdown in deal making and a loss on its Marcus loan book hit profits and revenues. Shares of Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon edged 0.6% and 1.4% higher, respectively, after reporting rising revenues.
In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was unchanged at US$84.76 a barrel while gold gained 0.5% to US$2,005.95.
Australian government bonds moved higher, with the 2 Year yield up to 3.11% and the 10 Year yield increasing to 3.47%. US Treasury notes also advanced, with the 2 Year yield climbing to 4.21% and the 10 Year yield increasing to 3.58%.
The Australian dollar moved up to 67.22 US cents after previously closing at 66.98. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against 16 other currencies, edged down to 95.83.
Asia
Chinese shares ended mixed after the release of Q1 GDP and a slew of March economic data, showing a strong but uneven post-Covid recovery. "The tailwinds for growth are stemming from a swift consumption recovery... yet the recovery remains uneven, property investment has yet to fully stabilize, while private investment growth dropped into contractionary territory," said HSBC economists in a note. Insurers and consumption companies led gains. Ping An Insurance rose 2.4% and Midea Group added 2.5%. Pharmaceutical companies and chip makers weighed, with WuXi AppTec down 5.6% and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. dropping 3.3%. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2% to close at 3393.33. Both the Shenzhen Composite Index and the ChiNext Price Index dropped 0.1%.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index ended 0.6% lower at 20650.51, weighed down by tech stocks and a selloff in shares of Anta Sports. The sportswear company slumped 7.4% after saying it plans to raise US$1.49 billion via a share placement. The Hang Seng Tech Index lost 1.2%, with tech giant Tencent dropping 1.5% and peer Baidu shedding 1.1%. The evenness and sustainability of China's recovery was again in focus, after a slew of economic data releases. The overall picture was mixed, with Citi economists saying in a note that consumption accelerated in March, while production and investment fell short of expectations. Chinese insurers led the gains on the HSI, with China Life Insurance rising 2.8% and Ping An adding 1.5%.
Japanese shares ended higher, led by gains in bank and retail stocks, as the yen weakened and optimism continued about the stability of the US banking sector. Resona Holdings gained 2.1% and Seven & i Holdings added 2.2%. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.5% to 28658.83.
Indian shares lost ground for the second straight day, with financial stocks weighing on the benchmark index. Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank Ltd. and Housing Development Finance Corp. all shed 0.5% to 0.75%, while Reliance Industries lost 1.1%. Some tech names rallied, including HCL Technologies and Wipro, which gained 2.0% and 1.6%, respectively. The Sensex closed 0.3% lower at 59727.01.
Europe
European stocks rose as stronger-than-expected Chinese economic growth data boosted market sentiment. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.4%, the German DAX advanced 0.6% and the CAC 40 added 0.5%. Markets are "taking their cue from China's gross domestic product figures overnight, which have provided much-needed reassurance about the health of the global economy," IG analyst Chris Beauchamp wrote. China GDP rose 4.5% year-on-year in Q1, versus the 4% increase expected by analysts in a WSJ survey and following 2.9% growth in the previous quarter.
London’s FTSE 100 closed up 0.4%. In addition to the strong Chinese GDP data, there was also plenty of UK data for investors to digest, from a slight relaxation in the labor market to a crowd-pleasing update from budget airline easyJet, AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson said in a note. "But looking at the FTSE 100 it was clear most eyes were focused much further east," Hewson added.
North America
US stocks wavered Tuesday, pressured by shares of Goldman Sachs Group and Johnson & Johnson.
The S&P 500 closed up 0.1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite were roughly flat. Earnings continued to test banks following recent industry strains and tightening from the Federal Reserve.
Goldman Sachs stock slipped 1.7% after a slowdown in deal making and a loss on its Marcus loan book hit profits and revenues. Shares of Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon edged 0.6% and 1.4% higher, respectively, after reporting rising revenues.
The stress seen in March was relatively isolated to banks with business-model issues, according to Conor Muldoon, fundamental portfolio manager at Causeway Capital Management.
"When the Fed drains the water, you start to see all these problems you didn't see before," he said. "As the Fed continues to tighten, I expect more will be uncovered."
Mr. Muldoon, who co-manages Causeway 's international and global value equity strategies, said that credit conditions will begin to crunch once unemployment and delinquencies tick up. The economy will likely feel the effects of that later this year when higher rates "really start to bite,” he added.
Despite a boosted outlook for the rest of the year and beating analysts' earnings expectations, shares of healthcare-products giant Johnson & Johnson shed 2.8%.
Investors will parse earnings updates from Netflix and United Airlines, both scheduled to file results after the bell, for insights into the resilience of consumer spending.
"I could paint as good of a bullish scenario as I could a bearish one for the economy and markets," said Rick Friedman, portfolio strategist on GMO's asset allocation team. The severity of a possible recession and speed at which inflation abates remain unknowns, he said.
An update on the US housing market Tuesday offered mixed signals. Starts declined far less than expected, while building permits fell substantially.
